A: When the field of knowledge is distorted by pleasure and pain, the mischief
starts.
K: Why did the traditionalists, the professionals, the scriptures, the spiritual
leaders, not see this? Was it because for them authority was tremendously
important?—the authority of the Gītā, of the scriptures. Because man is a result
of all this. So you have the man who says: I have read the Gītā, I am the
authority. An authority on what?—On somebody else’s words, on somebody
else’s knowledge?
A: We can know various traditions without becoming involved with them.
Knowing the tradition does bring you a certain clarity. We know how the
professionals worked and how you work. You say that knowledge is entirely of
the past.
K: Obviously. If I am tethered to a post, I cannot move.
A: Then why did the professionals not see this?
K: They were after power.
A: You do not understand. You say that they wanted power, but that is not so.
K: Look at what is taking place in each person. We see something very clearly
for a moment; this perception is translated into experience as knowledge. There it
is. I have seen it. It is finished. I do not have to carry it with me. The next minute
I am watching.
J: Why is there a watcher?
K: Look. Why does the brain insist on a continuity in knowledge? Why does the
brain continue in the multiplicity of knowledge? Why does it keep on adding,
multiplying: She was so kind; I did this yesterday. Why is this going on?
Look, sir, the brain cannot function in a healthy way, sanely, if it is not
completely secure. Security means order. Without order the brain cannot
function; it becomes neurotic. Like a child, it needs complete security. When a
child is secure, when it feels at home, it is not frightened. Then it will grow up
into a marvellous human being. So the brain needs security, and it has found
security in knowledge. That is the only thing it can be secure in: experience as
knowledge, which acts as the future guide. So the brain, needing security, finds it
in knowledge, in belief, in the family.
A: The traditionalists provide that security through knowledge.
K: The mind wants security. If the professional said: I really do not know, he
would not be a professional.